HackWithInfy Exam Experience

Introduction:

HackWithInfy is a coding competition held each year by Infosys. Infosys is one of the reputable companies in the software industry. HackWithInfy provides a platform for participants to showcase their coding skills, problem-solving abilities, and innovative thinking.

Embarking on the journey of the HackWithInfy 2024 Online Challenge marked a significant milestone in my pursuit of coding journey. In the time of recession and hard coding tests, standing out requires more than just technical prowess, it demands strategic planning, patience, and effective preparation.
In this article, I will share the strategies and insights that propelled me to success in the HackWithInfy 2024 Online Coding Challenge. From initial preparation to navigating the competition’s difficulty , I am sharing my experience that can empower you to triumph in this prestigious event.

Test Pattern and Questions :

It consisted of three coding questions that needed to be solved within a three-hour time limit. The questions were designed to test participants’ coding proficiency and problem-solving skills. The exam environment was pretty strict. We had to make sure our faces were clearly visible on camera at all times.

Three questions were marked easy, medium, difficult respectively. We were free to navigate to any question at any time. Also, there was partial marking for each test case passed. The difficulty level of questions ranged from medium to hard, even the easy question required a bit of trick. The first question was based on sorting principle. The second question was a dynamic programming problem for which I first wrote recursive code and only top few test cases passed and then I memoized it and to great shock , even after that all testcases did’nt pass. After some patient thinking I finally optimised the code and wrote tabulation solution for it. Finally, the third problem was a graph based problem and it was really a difficult one. I dedicated all the remaining time to it but even after that i was able to pass only few top testcases of it. It seemed like a competitive programming question to me.

Tip :

• The language of questions were very complex to understand so I solved the sample testcases on pen and paper while reading the questions twice or thrice. This helped me a lot in understanding what the questions demanded. Paying attention to testcases was a major reason of me being able to solve the problems.
• For managing the time, I first read all the questions and solved them in increasing order of difficulty.
• Stay very calm while reading the questions, if you will panic, you may end up understanding the question wrong and will eventually waste a lot of time.
• Be prepared with pen and paper beforehand. As the camera and mic were switched on whole time, moving and picking up things is not a good idea.

Preparation:

I practice coding questions regularly on popular coding platforms since my 3rd semester but now I had to solve specific problems regarding this competition. I did a little research on popular topics asked in HackWithInfy and started solving 5-10 problems on each frequently asked topic. In addition to these, I also solved few past year’s HackWithInfy problems.

I noticed there were some hot topics like strings, dynamic programming, greedy, backtracking and graphs. I focused more on these topics. When I faced some issue I used to read GFG articles and I also referred discuss sections of other famous coding platforms.

However to excel effortlessly in these types of contests and competitions, one should start early and practice DSA problems consistently.

Conclusion:

I felt a tinge of satisfaction on successfully solving two out of the three coding questions. When I saw the list of shortlisted students I was happy to see that I was amongst the 9 students from my college who cleared this online challenge. I carry with me the lessons learned and the memories forged during this brief yet meaningful experience. Looking forward to more competitions.

All the Best !!